TW/ violence, implied non-con/sexual coercion, child neglect
Plane of Absolution
Prologue:
Extinction
August 9, 2005
Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical College,
A huge concentration of cursed energy has been detected within the borders of southwestern San'ya, Tokyo yesterday at 11:38 pm.
All curses ranging from grades 1-4 within a 30-meter radius of the epicenter have been exorcised; high-level curse user activity is suspected.
This is an order for Special Grade Sorcerers Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru to investigate the situation immediately.
Jujutsu-shi Council of Higher-Ups
Sato Makoto was born cursed.
He came into the world through a resentful mother, cursing the heavens for every misfortune this unwanted fetus has brought to her. Crying herself hoarse as she pushes him out of her womb, akin to getting rid of a parasitic worm from her body, screaming in pain with no one to comfort her.
Sato Aimi has given birth to her first child, here she is holding him in her arms, and yet she has never felt more alone.
Looking at him through swollen red-rimmed eyes, she can't help but let out a dry laugh; the gods truly are cruel.
He looks just like his father.
Sato Aimi was born beautiful.
It's the reason why her impoverished parents were forced to sell her to the local Okiya to settle their debts. She cried, begged her mother to let her stay with them, that she'll find a job to help with the debts, and that she'll quit school so that they won't have to pay more money they can't afford.
Still, her mother refused to hear her. Her parents refused to look at her even for just a mere last farewell.
She doesn't remember their faces anymore. Nor their names. Her last memory of them is the image of their backs leaving her behind, walking away from her forever.
She diverted her grief on her training as a maiko, pettiness being her fuel for success, wanting to become one day so successful that her parents can know her name and see what they gave up.
Stubbornness is a hereditary trait it seems.
Sato Aimi is in love.
She met Makoto on a lovely spring afternoon; she was constantly praised for her face and was surrounded with beauty all her life but it is the first time she met someone that can truly be called beautiful.
He commanded her attention with his snow-white hair, deep honeyed voice, charming personality, and those beautiful crystalline eyes. He was the personification of beauty and like a blind fool seeing the world for the first time, she wanted more of him.
For the first time in her life, she felt true happiness in the arms of her beautiful angel. She felt that she can let go of the hatred that dominated her throughout her short life and finally live her life. That she is more than just a pretty face and that her life has more value than what she can offer to men.
She gave herself to him despite her virginity for her mizuage already sold to the highest bidder.
She doesn't care anymore because she knows eternity exists in Makoto's arms.
Sato Aimi is pregnant.
And the beautiful Makoto is nowhere to be found. His lies are just as beautiful and Aimi is the blind fool who believed it all.
She was a budding maiko on the edge of blooming into a highly desired geisha but here she is in the slums trying to make ends meet whilst heavily pregnant with the spawn of her beautiful Makoto.
She was exiled from the Okiya and was sold to a brothel, Sayuri okaa-san yelling at her for how ungrateful she was, for wasting years of investment on her as if she is just some commodity to be sold to powerful men.
She should have known it was too good to be true.
That the only constant in her life is misery.
Sato Aimi was not her real name.
She chose that name in honor of her springtime romance with her beloved and because it's a common stock name. It would take ages for her pursuers to even find her, there are thousands of Sato Aimi in Japan and hundreds in Tokyo alone.
It is the name she uses in hiding while she escapes the radar of her debtors from the brothel. With the help of trusted associates, she managed to escape her prison of forced sexual coercions and perverted men.
There is a market for pregnant women it seems, the gods truly are cruel.
She thought once she escapes that hell hole life would be easier but reality hit her hard, she has no means to properly raise a child with her meager savings from her prostitution stunt. She can barely afford herself, how much more a child?
She has considered aborting Makoto's spawn but the thought of getting rid of the only piece she has left of her beloved pains her more than any misfortune she had faced. She cannot go through it.
She should've known when he introduced himself as Makoto.
She doesn't even know if it's truly his name.
Sato Makoto was born beautiful.
Perhaps that is also a curse as he is born as the spitting image of his beautiful father. Aimi cannot look at him without anger bubbling in her gut. She wanted to drop him on his head, to end this madness but her heart cannot do it as every time Makoto looks at her, she sees her beloved.
He looks just like his father.
Aimi named him after his beautiful father who abandoned them. Whose name is just as beautiful as his lies. Whose spitting image is now cradled in her bosom.
She still loves him despite it all. Maybe it's because he made her feel happy for the first time in her life and she still clings to those beautiful memories of springtime romance.
Staring at the fruit of her ill-fated love, she didn't know it was possible to love and hate someone at the same time.
She truly is a fool.
Sato Makoto was three when he realized he is different.
He saw the world differently than his mother. That what he saw wasn't normal at all.
Their house is infested with these strange creatures that constantly crawl around their walls, their ceilings, and their floors. His mother herself is wrapped around multiple strange beings that constantly constrict her person but strangely, they stay unnoticed.
He wonders if they were the reason why his mother was never happy.
His mother constantly leaves him alone with nothing but these unseen creatures for company, he wants to say he isn't lonely at all cause it feels strange to feel alone whilst surrounded by others. Even if they're not human.
Sato Makoto wishes he was normal, maybe then his mother would love him.
Sato Makoto was four when he realized the world is unfair.
On one end of the spectrum, there are the lucky ones. Live day to day with no worries in the world, laughing carefree knowing that when the day ends, they can go home to their families and be assured that nothing in their life can go wrong.
On the other, more unfortunate end, there are people like him and his mother. Living day to day not knowing if they can survive when tomorrow comes. And to rub salt in open wounds, his mother's hatred and neglect are just the sprinkles needed to finish this awful sham of a family.
As his mother turns her back, leaving him behind once again in this cold desolate void they call home with not even a glance, he felt more alone than ever.
Even these strange creatures can't keep him company.
Sato Aimi went back to prostitution.
She has no choice really; she must put food on the table and she has nothing but herself to capitalize and sell.
She and her son moved to Tokyo to find better employment opportunities, who knew they'd go back to where they started? The brothel she works at is better than the old one, so she guesses there are silver linings in every misfortune. She gets higher wages, more humane hours, and most importantly, nicer men.
However, that doesn't apply to one of her frequent clients, Toji-san.
He isn't violent and he had never raised his hands against her but she can tell a killer when she sees one. If her Makoto is beauty in its absolute form, then Toji-san is beautiful in a twisted, cruel way.
She doesn't know why Toji-san kept asking for a washed-out has been like her, he can ask for her more expensive, more beautiful, much younger senpais but she figured he can't afford them and is settling for the mediocre her.
But she's not complaining, every time she's with him, she feels that she can breathe again.
She missed the feeling of being adored and loved by a beautiful man.
Even if it's all fake.
Sato Makoto was born beautiful.
Perhaps that is also a curse as he is born as the spitting image of his beautiful father. Aimi cannot look at him without anger bubbling in her gut. And as she came home drunk out of her mind, stumbling across the front door, her eyes landed on him and her mind's eye saw another vision.
Beauty incarnated in human form.
Perhaps it's no surprise that she mistook Sato Makoto for his father.
"What are you doing here?"
Aimi felt cold anger rush to her veins. She dragged her drunken body across the small apartment and settled in front of Makoto. She collapsed, knee first like the pathetic fool that she is. "AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, WHY NOW?!"
His mother continued to wail desperately, hugging his body like a drowning person begging to be saved. Makoto let her cry on him, he doesn't know what to do or why his mother is crying but in a twisted sort of way, he liked the feeling of being in her arms.
"… where were you when we needed you?"
His mother sobbed herself to sleep, pitifully lying unconscious on the floor.
Sato Makoto stayed silent.
Just like his father.
Sato Makoto is curious.
This is the first time he ever saw his mother happy.
The man she brought home is incredibly tall, bulging with muscle, sporting a crown of midnight black hair and an arrogant scarred smirk plastered on his face.
Despite his shabby ensemble, he was emanating power and authority in every silent step he made, Makoto doesn't know how or why but deep inside he knows that this man is dangerous.
Like a predator amongst prey.
But despite the red flags flashing in his eyes and the sound alarm blaring in his head, he can't help but feel a bit giddy inside. His mother's happiness is infectious and for the first time in the short four years of his existence, he felt hope.
He wonders if this man can complete the space his father left and they can finally be a complete family. Be the lucky ones, for once. He wonders if this man can be his new father.
He feels like the personification of the void.
He feels just like home.
Fushiguro Toji thought this woman is an idiot.
In more ways than one.
For one, she brought Toji home.
She knows his love and affection are fake but like an unlovable fool experiencing love for the first time, she turns a blind eye and pretends it's all real. She's lucky that she's beautiful so he lets her live her fantasies in her head.
He won't say no to free sex with a gorgeous woman. He's too broke to complain anyways, he can't afford to go to a soapland in a while. He really needs to stop spending his hard-earned cash on women and gambling, they're bleeding him dry.
Whatever, it is what it is.
Aimi really shouldn't have brought him home. That was her nth and final mistake.
"Out of all the places, the home of a common whore isn't where I'd thought I'd find a blessed child."
Toji was amused.
Crouching down across this Gojo bastard, mouth stretched into a shark-like grin, scar stretching nastily on his handsome face. He's kinda adorable really, playing with all these weak curses like they're some twisted pet dogs. It reminds him of Megumi.
He looked over his shoulder at this kid's foolish mother and asked, "You some Gojo mistress or something?"
"What?"
Seeing her confused face, Toji can't help the cruel laugh that burst out of him "You don't even know do you?"
Toji turns back to this wide-eyed bastard, looking at him with identical confusion as his idiot of a mother. She should have known better than to consort with the pretty boys from that blasted clan but she is an idiot like that. A few charming words from a pretty face are enough to get her legs and heart to open, even to someone untrustworthy like Toji.
"Come here kid, let me look at you."
Obedient kid that he is, Makoto waddled immediately to Toji's side, smiling brightly, looking at him like he brought hope to this sham of a family. Toji ignored the kid's expression and held Makoto's face, inspecting him closer.
"What the fuck are these eyes? Six Eyes?" He wondered out loud, much to the confusion of the mother-son tandem, "Nah that can't be. That brat is still living and breathing, only one Six Eyes can exist."
Toji is sure this bastard is a Gojo, his cursed energy is almost identical to that Six Eyed brat, not to mention the coloring. White hair and those eyes? Ain't no way that's not a Gojo.
No wonder Aimi felt like she had some cursed energy in her, why he's so attracted to her, he always just assumed she was a human with larger-than-average curse energy. With the way the brat is shining like a beacon with all this cursed energy in him, he's not surprised why curses are abundant in this house nor surprised that they are so tame.
The brat has been feeding them, even if he doesn't know it.
He has no idea how they escaped the eyes of the Jujutsu higher-ups but whatever, their losses are his wins.
Fushiguro Toji stood up and went back to hug Aimi tightly, smiling gleefully at the chaos he was about to unleash on this unfortunate family of two, "Baby, you just made me into a rich man."
"Huh?"
"I'm gonna make this into a special night just for you."
Toji closed the gap between them with a sickeningly sweet kiss, swallowing her soul whole as Makoto watched in wide-eyed curiosity.
He tasted like poison but Aimi welcomed it.
Craved it even.
She just wants to be loved.
Sato Makoto is confused.
His mother has been acting strange, especially after the man that could've been his father left and never came back. She has been increasingly paranoid and erratic, the unseen creatures continuously coiling around her neck making it harder and harder for her to breathe.
He tried getting rid of it but like a cockroach, it just kept coming back.
The atmosphere around the house is murky and heavy with dread. It's so uncomfortable that even the strange creatures are restless.
Makoto likes that his mother no longer leaves for work, they can finally be together even if she doesn't pay attention to him.
Despite all the neglect, he still loves his mother.
He just wants to be with her.
Sato Makoto woke up to his mother's screams.
There were three men inside the void that he calls home, harassing his mother as they demand something from her. One of them is pushing her to the ground, a gun pointed at her head.
His mother is bloodied and bruised.
He doesn't understand any of this, all he knows is that he has to do something.
With a burst of courage, he ran to his mother's side pushing the assailant with power not befitting his toddler frame. The stranger hit the wall and the force caused the thin walls to collapse in itself, taking the stranger with it.
"LET GO OF MY MOTHER!"
His arms were wide open, in a desperate attempt to hide his mother behind his tiny body. It doesn't work but it's all he can do.
"So, this is the little Gojo." Sneered one of the strangers, bending down to his height to pat Makoto's head condescendingly, "Sheesh, what a powerful brat, you just took out that weakling Hideo."
He laughed, it was screechy and painful to the ears.
"Great thing we're gonna snuff him out before he turned into another Gojo Satoru."
He threw away the filthy hand on his head, disgusted with how it felt on his head; Makoto glared at him with his crystalline eyes, wishing they would disappear and leave them alone.
People are always leaving him and his mother; his biological father and the man that could've been his father. Why can't these low lives do the same?
What did they do wrong? They just want to exist peacefully.
"PLEASE, NO! NOT MY SON!" Aimi screamed, shakily standing up with what little strength she had left. She put Makoto behind her, hiding him from the view of these invaders. "Please! He's all I have left! We promise we're gonna move away, we won't bother anyone!"
"See lady, you don't seem to understand your situation." The large man slurred, huffing on his cigar, he seems to be the leader of the pack with how he commanded the room with nothing but his voice. He stepped forward, brushing his underling to the back, "I almost feel bad for you, but what you just did is gene theft!"
His mother flinched.
"I'm sorry! I really didn't know!" Aimi denied, shaking her head back and forth frantically, salty tears dripping down her chin, "I never met him again! Please you have to believe me!"
Makoto doesn't understand anything from the conversation and he doesn't care.
All he knows is that he wants them gone.
"There, there. Beautiful things like you shouldn't waste their tears over petty shit like this." He let out a patronizing laugh as he caressed his mother's swollen cheeks, expelling revolting smoke on her face, "Good thing the Gojo's aren't gonna know about this. If you just let us do our job, we can both walk away with no trouble at all!"
Sato Aimi's tears kept flowing like a broken dam, strength leaving her as she continuously sobs. Kneeling down in front of the stranger like a penitent sinner, "Please! I'll do anything, just let my son go. You can do anything you want with me, just not my son."
Makoto doesn't understand why this is happening to them.
What did they do wrong?
Why can't they just disappear?
"Mom sto-"
"MAKOTO, NOT RIGHT NOW!" His mother yelled desperately, not even glancing his way, "Let me handle this."
Makoto didn't move.
What is he supposed to do in this situation?
Leave?
But what about his mother?
Why does he have to leave?
WHY CAN'T THEY LEAVE?!
"You know, I don't mind having a gorgeous woman like you in my arms." The ring leader said, acting like he was considering Aimi's proposition, putting out the cigar on Aimi's exposed shoulders. Twisting it back and forth with a sadistic grin on his face. She bit her lips to keep any noise from leaking out.
Endure. Just endure. Like she always does.
"But I have to say no, you see that kid of yours? He's gonna be dangerous one day and we need him gone while he's still in the cradle."
"So, while I'm still playing nice…" He declared, arrogantly tapping her face with his palm, "Just let us do our job, I'd hate to hurt a beautiful woman like you."
Sato Aimi knows she's not a good mother but if anything, she is a fool for love.
With all of her strength left, adrenaline pumping in her veins, she tackled the two strangers down the floor, using nothing but stubborn willpower to keep them down.
"MAKOTO! RUN!
Makoto was frozen in fear.
What does he do?
What about his mother?
Why is this happening to them?
Aimi continued to struggle but she can already feel them overpowering her. The henchman managed to slip past her flimsy defenses and reached out for his gun. Aimi saw the action and stared at the barrel of the gun pointing at her. She immediately turned to Makoto, eyes wide in fear.
"MAKOTO! GO!" She screamed, hysterically commanding him to leave for safety, "MAKOTO! LEAV-!"
BANG!
Just like that, his mother left him.
Just like his father.
Just like that man.
Just like everything in this cursed existence of his.
As his mother's eyes rolled to the back of her head, bullet wound destroying her once beautiful face, something in Makoto broke.
These unknown strangers desecrated the only home he knew, laughing as his mother's corpse lay tragically on the ground. Her brain splattered on the walls, blood pooling on the floors, crawling until it reached his feet, staining it red.
It was warm.
Sato Makoto has never felt more loved than at this moment.
Sato Makoto saw red.
Divine Judgement was enforced.
And nothing remained.
Sato Makoto is born cursed.
But Gojo Kamui is born blessed.
Southwestern San'ya Extinction Incident
On August 8, 2005, at 11:38 pm an explosion of concentrated cursed energy occurred in the borders of southwestern San'ya, Tokyo; exorcising curses ranging from grades 1-4 within a 30-meter radius from the epicenter.
Current first-year students and Special Grades sorcerers Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru were called into the scene to investigate the situation.
No curse users were found in the area; an unknown male child was found instead. He is saturated with cursed energy and is the suspected source of the explosion. His cursed energy signature matches the one that was found in the area.
The child also has the markings of a Gojo, it is suspected that he is an unknown illegitimate offspring from the Gojo clan.
Further investigations are needed.
Casualty: 0
Author's Note:
Ngl this took a lot from me; this is why I don't write or read angst lol
This is a self-indulgent fic, I still don't know where this fic will go but we'll see.
02/16/23: Edited the last part, I wasn't satisfied with it. Added more details, removed, and corrected some stuff here and there.
Reference:
San'ya (山谷) – is an area in the Taito and Arakawa wards of Tokyo. It is a region with a distinct culture, an area of crowded, cheap rooming houses where day laborers live. In the southwestern part is where a soap land district is located, formerly known as Yoshiwara.
Sato (佐藤) - is the most common Japanese surname. It's meaning is irrelevant as it's chosen for its common nature.
Makoto (真) - is a gender-neutral name of Japanese origin that is more commonly used for boys, meaning "truth".
Aimi (愛心) - is a feminine name of Japanese origin meaning "beautiful love".
Okiya (置屋) - is the lodging house/drinking establishment to which a maiko or geisha is affiliated with during her career as a geisha.
Maiko (舞妓) - the most common term for an apprentice geisha.
Mizuage (水揚げ) - defloration ceremony in geisha/oiran culture, considered as a coming-of-age ceremony.
Geisha (芸者) - are a class of female Japanese performing artists and entertainers trained in traditional Japanese performing arts styles, mostly trained in the service of powerful men
(Sayuri) Oka-san (お母さん) - it means "mother", typically are the ones who run an Okiya. They handle a geisha's engagements, the development of her skills, and funds her training through a particular teahouse. Sayuri is just name chosen as reference to the book, Memoirs of a Geisha.
Senpai (先輩) - used to refer to seniors within an interpersonal relationship
Kamui (神威) - is an uncommon name of Japanese origin, the kanji used for this name are 神 for "god" and 威 for "authority". It is an arrogant name meaning "God's Authority".